Poetry Prescription

Poetry Prescription. Illustration by David Sparshott.

Our team of established, professional poets, will provide detailed, critical feedback on up to 100 lines of your poetry, based on your experience, skills and poetic ambitions. The Poetry Prescription service includes:

an appraisal of your work and suggestions to help you develop it

a prescription of further reading material

advice on the best way to present your work

a current poetry competitions listing

a current writers’ groups and retreats listing

a listing of current poetry magazines and their contact details

a recent issue of Poetry News and The Poetry Review (for non-members)

£40 for Poetry Society Members, £50 for non members.

Be prepared for an honest and rigorous response. The appraisal is not intended to be the definitive commentary on your work. However, it is the opinion of an individual with experience worth listening to.

Next steps

Your poems should total no more than 100 lines and be typed on one side of the page only, each page carrying 1) your name, 2) page number, and 3) total number of lines for the poem – not including title.

Feedback on Poetry Prescription:

“The Poetry Prescription has made me look more seriously at developing my work…The feedback was constructive and at times, brutal… like iambs to the slaughter!! But hey! I survived!! Give it a go.” – Chris Phillips, Stoke-on-Trent

“What I most wanted to find out was whether my inner editor coincided with an external one. It did. What was really valuable, however, was that he loved a particular line that I felt was one of those rare moment of ‘authentic’ poetry, that is to say, a line written from trusted instinct rather than from a mind consciously trying to have an effect. This has given me confidence to trust that impulse in future.” – Tony Yates, London

“Thank you so much for my Prescription and most valuable resources also attached. My feedback is most appreciative… Almost all the comments I considered very valid. A work plan is now formulated. I had not stopped writing whilst awaiting my Prescription, but badly needed direction which I now have more clearly in mind as I develop my ideas.” – Jane Flint Bridgewater, Stourbridge